Letters From Quarantine

Rui Travasso

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Cat No: ODRCD411

Release Date: 19 February 2021

Label: Odradek Records

Packaging Type: Digipak

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 0810042704114

Genres: Classical Contemporary Classical

Description

The pandemic has compelled artists to find new ways of channelling their creativity. Portuguese clarinettist Rui Travasso turned the experience of isolation into something positive with his lockdown recording of solo clarinet music, an extraordinary and powerful achievement.

As Rui Travasso writes in his Artist Statement, a feature of the album booklet: "This album was recorded entirely in my house during the confinement caused by COVID-19. It is, perhaps inevitably, a solo album because so much of life during a pandemic is conducted in isolation, without company or collaboration. The situation is analogous with being unjustly imprisoned and writing letters to those on the outside; an urgent need to communicate with those we cannot see but whom we can sense are there and receptive to listening."

The clarinet is an instrument of real versatility, its mellow, woody timbre ranging flexibly between plangent melancholy, creamy lyricism and jaunty humour. These qualities have been most famously explored in accompanied works â€“ especially concertos and quintets â€“ but the solo clarinet repertoire offers a wealth of interesting music in which composers have sought to address the challenges of writing for an unaccompanied instrument by harnessing the clarinet's unique qualities and highlighting its rich colours.

The album features a range of relatively recent repertoire. French composer Henri Tomasi's 'Sonatine Attique' is said to have been inspired by a night under the Greek stars near the Parthenon in Athens. The clarinet's agile, jovial side is contrasted with sinuous, haunting passages. We hear a finely-crafted 'Sonata for Clarinet Solo' by Dutch composer Rudolf Escher, who was influenced by the music of Debussy, Ravel and Mahler, and the apparently effortless 'Monolog No. 3' by Swedish composer Erland von Koch, who was influenced by BartÃ³k, Sibelius, Grieg and Hindemith.

There are more overt tributes to other composers, too: Gordon Jacob's 'Five Pieces for Solo Clarinet' include a lively, affectionate tribute to J.S. Bach, and contemporary Hungarian composer BÃ©la KÃ³vacs is known for his set of 'Hommages' to an array of different composers, from which we hear the dazzling 'Hommage Ã M. Falla'. Other contemporary works include the chant-based 'Antiphona V, Ave Maria' by Norwegian composer Henrik Ã˜degaard, and the intricate 'Sonatina' by Portuguese composer SÃ©rgio Azevedo. The Italian Giovanni Mattaliano is first and foremost a clarinettist, and his 'Zeta World' is the perfect conclusion to a recital of solo clarinet music: a succinct piece of breathtaking technique and irresistible good humour.
Tracklisting